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Hate Mail
I’ve been watching some of the Channel 4 stuff this week about the 40th anniversary of the decriminalization of homosexuality in England. (In England, Channel 4 – only in England). One of the questions which has repeatedly been raised in this programming strand is whether there is really any problem for people being gay these…
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Mystery Worshipper
Hey! We’ve were visited by the Mystery Worshipper at Evensong on Easter Day. More at the Ship of Fools.
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Tales of the City #2
The scene is the barber’s shop. I stand framed in the doorway and am greeted by Jamie the Barber. Jamie the Barber: Phew! Self: I’d like a haircut. Jamie the Barber: You’re in the right place sir. Just come over here and sit yourself down. A pause. Jamie the Barber: I’ll just… if you don’t……
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Book Review – Coming In
Coming In – Gays and lesbians reclaiming the spiritual journey by Urs Mattmann – foreword by Richard Rohr. Published by Wild Goose Publications – £9.99 So very much of what is said about gay people and religion is said by straight people. Straight people sometimes seem to be obsessed by gay people in the church.…
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Book Review – Resurrexit
Resurrexit: Music for Lent and Eastertide In the time since I was ordained some years ago, there has never been a Holy Week in which someone has not telephoned to enquire where one might find a copy of the Exsultet – the ancient Easter hymn of praise. Sometimes the request is more specific – where…
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Book Review – Reclaiming the Sealskin
Reclaiming the Sealskin: Meditations in the Celtic Spirit by Annie Heppenstall-West is a series of meditations on themes that are mostly drawn from the natural world (eg Ripples, Deer, Fire, Otter). Each theme has a beautifully drawn card that comes ready to be pressed out of the book. The idea is to take a theme…
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Book Review – Mission Implausible
Mission Implausible – Restoring Credibility to the Church (Paternoster Press £15.99) Duncan MacLaren’s new book Mission Implausible should be required reading for all those formulating mission strategies and schemes in the church, as well as for students of the mission of God’s people in the world. Contemporary sociological analysis of society is used by the…
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Book Review – You've Got to Have a Dream
You’ve Got To Have a Dream – the message of the musical by Ian Bradley (SCM Press £16.99) What will we have a theology of next? Ian Bradley’s book is a theological reflection on musical theatre. We’ll start at the very beginning. Despite cheerfully admitting that it is rather difficult to locate references to God…
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Book Review – eucharist with a small e
eucharist with a small “e” by miriam therese winter (Orbis Books £8.99) Miriam Therese Winter is a professor of liturgy, worship and spirituality, but does not let that get in the way of asking us to imagine a spirituality rooted in doing what Jesus did. In this imaginative book, she challenges those who look to…
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Book Review – Consecrations, Blessings and Prayers
Consecrations, Blessings and Prayers – A Pastoral Companion to the Ritual and to the Book of Blessings – Compiled by Sean Finnegan. Canterbury Press £16.99 This is a handy little hardback book filled with lots of helpful prayers for all kinds of pastoral situations. Stemming from the Roman Catholic tradition, there is much here for…